Summer Time is a Prime Time to Learn Via Work

With medical school on the fall horizon, it would have been
understandable if University graduates Diana Kachan and Will Mak
had opted for a last-blast summer of mind-clearing R and R.
Instead, they spent their summer vacation at the prestigious Salk
Institute for Biological Research in La Jolla, Calif.

They weren't the only CUNY students and graduates to spend the
summer striving for new heights in scientific research, public
service or personal best. Other efforts included environmental
research, internships and work on the world's pressing problems.

For CUNY graduate and medical student Will Mak, the opportunity to do research at the Salk Institute held personal significance.

Mak and Kachan, who received the University's coveted Jonas E. Salk
Scholarship—established in 1955 at the request of the polio vaccine
developer and City College alumnus in lieu of a ticker-tape
parade—researched at the institute for eight weeks. As Salk
Scholars they received stipends of $8,000 to defray medical school
costs.

Kachan is a Belarus native whose medical interests first stirred
when she volunteered at an orphanage for children handicapped by
radiation from the Chernobyl blast. "[Biology] wasn't just about
memorization and facts, but about real life," she recalled. She
graduated from Baruch College with a CUNY Baccalaureate degree and
enrolled in the M.D./Ph.D. program at University of Miami School of
Medicine. She plans to pursue epidemiology and neurology.

At Salk, Kachan delved into theoretic neuroscience with Tatiana
Sharpee, assistant professor in the Computational Neurobiology
Laboratory, who studies how neurons "spike" to receive input, then
signal other neurons, using data from retinal cells and the brain's
visual cortex, along with computer code. Kachan quickly bridged her
lack of theoretical neuroscience exposure and limited computer
programming experience.

In a molecular biology lab at Salk, Mak, a graduate of the Macaulay
Honors College at City College, investigated whether a section of
genetic code is responsible for development of the brain region
that controls movement, including vision and balance, in mice. He
analyzed gene sequences that are published online, finding one that
appeared similar to another gene known to affect motor function
development. He cloned the new gene and inserted it into a virus,
for introduction into developing brain cells in mice. Finally, he
analyzed the cells to see where the gene "appeared" in the overall
brainscape.

As he worked, Mak appeared slightly slouched, the result of
congenital scoliosis, a curvature of his spine that restricts some
of his movement and causes him daily pain. When he was in high
school, he had his lower lumbar spine fused, he said. It was his
traumatic medical experiences that led Mak to study at the New York
College of Osteopathic Medicine. He wants to become an orthopedic
surgeon, focusing on pediatrics. "Perhaps one day the discoveries
in this lab will lead to cures for spinal deformities, or ways to
prevent them from happening in the first place," Mak ventured.

While Mak and Kachan were at Salk, Shomari Brown and Olga Torres
spent some time sifting through garbage. They were among six Lehman
students, graduates and staff who helped the Friends of Hudson
River Park Trust clean up Manhattan's Gansevoort Peninsula, seven
acres of landfill south of 14th Street. The Trust plans to turn six
acres into gardens and other attractions. The work, said Brown,
made him "more aware of the importance of keeping public places
clean, and I appreciate more where I come from."

Simon Mairzaheh of Baruch College was in Washington, D.C. this
summer, as a Colin Powell Fellow interning in the U.S. State
Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, office of Egypt and
the Levant (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon). "It was amazing being steeped
in our country's foreign policy arm, learning about its structure,
and being a part of its function," said Mairzaheh, who helped
organize a conference on the reconstruction of Palestinian refugee
camps and drafted briefs as well as letters for officials including
the President. "My time at the State Department was one of the
paramount experiences of my life," Mairzaheh said. Next summer, he
plans to intern at a U.S. embassy abroad.

Another Colin Powell Fellow, City College history major Ángela
Pérez, interned in Bogota, Colombia with the nongovernmental
Association of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians. She registered
new members, built a database and helped prepare a report on the
erosion of Afro-Colombian women's rights that was to be presented
to Colombia's Supreme Court. "I collected statements from these
women, including a lot of personal information," she said. "They
inspired me to learn and to help."

Climate change and global warming deeply concern New York City
College of Technology student Adam Atia. Supported by a National
Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates grant,
Atia joined nine other CUNY students at the City College base of
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Cooperative
Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center. They studied remote
sensing as it applies to aerosols, vegetation, hurricanes, coastal
waters and "nowcasting" (prediction of severe weather shortly
before it occurs). Next March, aboard a NOAA ship sailing the
Atlantic between Africa and the Caribbean, Atia will research how
aerosols are transported across the ocean. "I want to be involved
in work that seeks to solve the world's problems," he said.

Queens College geology major Andrea Balbas spent her summer as an
associate at NASA Academy at the Goddard Space Flight Center in
Maryland. Working with a Goddard researcher, Balbas designed an
experiment using microwave radar to measure the ability of common
earth sediments such as clay, sand and gravel to absorb energy
—research that could cast light on the environmental effects of
past radioactive events. She also participated in an Academy
project that examined commercialization in space exploration, and
completed a paper mapping a strategic plan for NASA and private
industry to expand research and space exploration. To read more,
see http://commercialspace.pbwiki.com.

And now, cut to the Beijing Olympics, or at least to a TV
commercial that ran during the summer games. The scene: Bird's Nest
stadium. Eight runners are at the 100-meter start line. The pistol
sounds and they burst down the track as spectators roar. Famed
American sprinter Tyson Gay, in lane five, leads. John Xavier,
student-athlete at Bronx Community College, is in lane one. The ad
cuts to a message from the Swiss watch company Omega, official
timekeepers for the Olympic Games since 1932.

BCC's track and field head coach, Monica Stevens, recommended
Xavier in February to scouts seeking runners for the commercial. By
mid-March he was flying to Athens for the five-day shoot, at the
site of the 2004 Olympic track and field competition. He struck up
a friendship with Tyson Gay. "We talked about general stuff and
about college life," said Xavier. "He gave me advice on how I can
place my legs on the ground so I can come out of the starting
blocks faster."

Xavier plans to finish his computer graphics degree and work in the
industry. "But at 23," he said, "there is still a possibility that
with the proper training, I might begin to compete at a higher
level in track events like Tyson Gay."